Yesterday was probably the longest day I’ve had since arriving in Italy (aside from my marathon arrival gauntlet experience).

Maria Carla and I looked at books covering nearly the entire Marche (mar-kay) region – photographs, descriptions, tourist information – any type of information you could imagine compiled about this area of Italy, we looked at it. After a couple hours of poring over books, pamphlets, and websites I felt like my brain was getting mushy. On the plus side, we found several landmarks, natural features, and places to visit during my stay here.

After dropping off Chiara at a friend’s birthday party, Maria Carla took me to Civitanova Alta – the historical city. In Italy it is fairly normal for a small city to begin on a hill (all the easier to protect), and then as time moved forward, warring ceased, and the population grew, a larger city would extend beneath the city on the hill. The original towns are typically labeled as “alta,” or tall.

The school I will be teaching at (starting on Monday, provided we don’t get the foot of snow forecasted), is located in Civitanova Alta, so I’ll get to go to the old historical part of the area every day I teach – how lucky am I?

We visited the church in which Maria Carla and Fabio were married and then we went over to the city hall. It was mostly closed, but Maria Carla found one very nice woman who showed us all around. She opened up the ornate room in which the mayor presides over meetings and even opened up the small, but beautiful theater nearby. A private showing – what a lucky surprise! We stopped into one of the oldest cafes in Civitanova Alta for a quick coffee, then walked all over the small hilltop. Cute little alleys, il gatti running about, and dodging little Italian cars zipping through the tiny cobblestone streets – typical Italy. I forgot my camera, but managed to get a few pictures with my cell phone (which turned out surprisingly well).

After exploring all over (and half-freezing to death), we popped back down to Vodafone to figure out why my mobile internet wasn’t working. A half-hour later the lovely Vodafone guys managed to fix my phone and get my internet working perfectly (Yay, Facebook! Yay, Google Maps!). The Vodafone shop is right on the main boulevard in Civitanova Marche (the new city), so we walked up and down looking at all the shops. I bought myself a new jacket (One of those stereotypically puffy European jobs that everyone wears. I think they look a little silly, but sweet baby Jesus are those things warm.). When I heard Italy had snow, for some reason I assumed it was just a few inches, not the feet of snow piling up. I didn’t bring heavy winter coat, so every time we went outside I was freezing cold. This little jacket helps enormously, even if I feel like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. We also saw the retail shoe shop for the company Fabio works for as a buyer.

One of the coolest things about the downtown area is that in between the massive palm trees the light poles have speakers built into them. As we were walking I heard Florence + The Machine (one of my favorite bands) and “You and I” by Lady Gaga (one of my favorite songs). It was perfect. I can’t wait until the snow melts and I can get pictures of the street as it normally looks – it’s beautiful.

Speaking of music – OK, so I’m used to seeing poor translations of English in foreign countries. I’m sure that our translations of other languages in the US are just as horrible (and according to my lovely husband who is much better with foreign languages than I, that’s a fact). I’m also used to seeing people who aren’t familiar with the English language incorrectly interpreting words or expressions or accidentally saying something inappropriate. While we were in Vodafone there was house music playing in the background with vocals every thirty seconds or so. As we were standing there waiting to be helped, I noticed the words were in English – and incredibly profane. Like – wow. I was just standing there looking around as the song dropped f-bomb after f-bomb. Of course, nobody else noticed because no one else speaks English, but I was still just totally blown away. Made me wonder how often we say awful things in foreign languages without realizing it…

On the plus side, a good majority of the snow has melted (although there’s still a ton) so it’s much easier to get around. The sun is even out today! First time I’ve seen the sun since I got to Italy! Blue skies! Yay!

Also, as we were traipsing about yesterday I couldn’t help but notice just how much Maria Carla’s English has improved. When I arrived last Saturday she insisted her English was nearly non-existent, and she was extremely hesitant to use it. Now, she’s communicating extremely well, translating for me and other people into both Italian and English. She even accidentally spoke in English to some of her Italian friends and her mother yesterday! It was quite amusing to see. She’s improved so much in such a short time I can only imagine how proficient she’ll be when I go to my other host family in March.

Our final trip last night was to pick up Francesco at Maria Carla’s parents house before going home. He’d stayed with them all day while we explored the area. It was really neat to see them and to see a traditional Italian house. Maria Carla’s mother made me some excellent coffee, and gave me some of my own to take home (yay!). Her father showed me his extensive collection of mini-liquor bottles from all over the world – it was impressive! He had hundreds of bottles of every spirit you could possibly think of – including some tequila from Mexico, complete with worms.

While I was there I realized that I had lost a button off my sweater. Maria Carla’s mother pulled out this enormous container filled with probably five thousand buttons, took another button from my sweater (now both sleeves match!), and promised to look through her stash to find a match. I wouldn’t normally think she’d find one, but considering the sweater was made in Italy and the size of her collection, I’m pretty confident she’ll find one.

Today is a fairly lazy day. Maria Carla finally had to go back to work, Francesco is at his grandparents, and Chiara and I are here at home. Later we’ll walk to the mini-mercado where I’ll buy some ingredients to make the family their first American dinner. Fabio looked a little worried at the prospect when we were discussing it at dinner last night, but I’m sure it will go well. Hopefully I don’t screw it up and make them hate American food forever!